


Always Maroon

by mapleandmahogany



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ficlet, Fluff, Order of the Phoenix - Freeform, Wizarding Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-24
Updated: 2006-08-24
Packaged: 2018-10-27 17:01:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10813131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mapleandmahogany/pseuds/mapleandmahogany
Summary: Ickle Ronnikins can't sleep.





	Always Maroon

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

  
Author's notes:

This story was voted as a Featured Story in Bad Moon Rising for September 2006 **-** Thank you!

**“Every year she makes us a sweater,” said Ron, unwrapping his own, “and mine’s _always_ maroon.”**

* * *

~^~^~

 

It was well past midnight, when Molly heard his shuffling little feet enter her room, dragging his toy wand on the floor behind him.

 

Though she was exhausted, she smiled at the sight of her youngest boy. Already tall for his five years, his pajama bottoms were above his ankles. 

 

“Ronnie? Is it the spiders again?” she asked, sitting up.

 

He nodded his head and sniffed, wiping his nose across his pajama sleeve.

 

“They were up on the ceiling, looking down at me, laughing,” his tiny voice whimpered.

 

She sighed and pulled him into an embrace. 

 

“There were no spiders, dear, I promise.”

 

“I wanna sleep in here,” he muttered into her shoulder.

 

Molly didn’t really mind if he slept at the foot of her bed once again, but she fretted over him being so frightened. 

 

She had an idea.

 

“Ronnie, you know about your Uncles Fabian and Gideon, yes?”

 

“The heroes!” Ronnie said, his sleepy face lighting up, as he mimicked dueling with his wand.

 

“That’s right, they were heroes. They fought to protect people against Dark witches and wizards. The two of them were very brave.”

 

“Fred always plays like he’s Uncle Fabian, and George plays like Uncle Gideon and I always have to be the bad guy that they banish to Azkaban.” Ronnie said with a wrinkle between his eyebrows and pursed lips.

 

“Yes, I know,” Molly smirked. “Now, I’m going to give you something very special.  Something that I’ve never shown the Twins before.”

 

She stood and went to the cedar trunk at the foot of her bed. When she lifted the heavy lid, Ronnie’s eyes went wide and he moved closer. His mum’s most treasured items were kept in that trunk. No one dared to open it.

 

Molly sorted through her precious possessions and withdrew and large lump of knotty maroon colored wool.

 

“This here,” she said in gentle voice, “was the first jumper I ever knitted. It belonged to your Uncle Gideon.” She sat on the edge of the bed and spread the folded sweater across her lap. 

 

Ronnie gaped and stroked the knitted wool as though it were a relic from King Arthur himself.

 

“It was really his?” Ronnie squeaked.

 

“It certainly was.” Molly was touched by his enthusiasm. “He told me once, that this very jumper made him feel that he could battle even _You Know Who_ like the bravest Knight in England.”

 

“Honestly?”

 

“Honestly.”

 

Molly gave the jumper a shake and then scrunched the back in her fingers until she reached the neck hole. She placed the large opening over Ronnie’s head and helped him push his arms into the sleeves. 

 

The sweater engulfed his skinny body and hung at his feet.

 

“There. Now, don’t you feel braver already?”

 

He nodded with a joyful smile on his face, which quickly gave way to a yawn.

 

“Now come here, you,” Molly said, standing and gathering Ronnie into her arms, his gangling legs wrapping around her waist. “You’re so big already, I won’t be able to carry you for much longer.”

 

She took him up the stairs and felt his weight settle as he drifted off to sleep in her arms. 

 

Placing him carefully in his own bed, she tucked his toy wand under his arm. Then she straightened her beloved brother’s sweater before pulling the covers over Ronnie.

 

“Sleep well now, my sweet boy,” she whispered, as she wiped her eye, and stroked over the freckles at the tip of his nose. “I will make you your own maroon jumpers so you can be a brave knight to battle those spiders and Dark wizards.”

 

~^~^~

 

_My thanks to sweet Gwen1170 for the beta!_


End file.
